A World Reborn
by CinemaSpeak1991
Summary: When the Doctor visits New Jersey, he is surprised to find that a girl holds the answer to finding a lost world. With her at his side and an unknown creature following there every move, can the Doctor save the world that's not ours?
1. Prologue

**Author's note: This is where I should say that I do not own anything related to Doctor Who, which belongs to it's respective people. For now. MWAHAHA!! *ahem* sorry. Well, enjoy and R&R please!**

**Prologue**

How did I get myself into this mess? Here I am, God knows where, hanging off the side of the building, and for what? Some stupid man, in a stupid pinstripe suit, carrying some sonic do-hickey, asking about the Faerie Book; if it wasn't for that idiotic book, I could be safely back at home, writing my college essay, or even working at the library. But _nooo! _He has to come waltzing in there like he owns the goddamn place, and grabbing me by the arm and staring at me with those _eyes_. Now, how does a man who looks so young have eyes so old? Hmmm, maybe that's what made me help the Doctor. Be his, what was it? His companion. Ah, Doctor… oh who am I kidding, life back home would be so boring without him. Which gives me another thought, where is he? He better get here quickly, I think I'm slipping…


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

There was a squirrel. This squirrel was busily minding its own business, you know, finding some nuts, storing up for the winter, when a black, beat-up Schwinn raced across the pathway, upsetting the squirrel and sending it into a tizzy. No sooner than that little episode, the squirrel thought it heard something. There was a sound that seemed like a high-pitched leaf-blower starting. Soon, the TARDIS materialized into the park. The door opened, and the Doctor stepped out of the blue box, taking in the smell of a city park in New Jersey, brown grass and all.

The Doctor breathed deeply, and began to walk, a playful smile on the edge of his mouth, taking in the American scenery, his tousled brown hair lightly messed around in the quiet breeze that ran through the empty park.

Soon, the Doctor met a boy, around 7 years of age, playing with a broken toy robot. As the shadow of the older (much, much older) man fell over the boy, he looked up, and smiled.

" 'Ello there, quick survey. What is the date?" the Doctor smiled, hoping the boy wouldn't run off, crying for his mum.

"It's September 29, silly. You sound funny. Hi, I'm Mikey." The boy said without hesitation, as if this man gave off some kind of weird vibe, as if he could trust someone like him. The Doctor smiled at this. He said his thanks, and as he left, he pulled out his trusty sonic screwdriver, and pushed a single button, twice. The robot sprang to life and began dancing around in a circle, and the boy clapped and laughed as the toy it thought was dead lived once again.

And the Doctor kept walking.

* * *

I'm late. I'm late, late, late. Why, on God's green Earth, am I always late? What have I ever done for my karma to be this bad? Gosh, I wish there was a Beatles' song to describe how I feel when I am late. Oops, sorry little squirrel. Well, no sense in calling now, saying that I'm late. They might fire me. Again. Ha, I can see Max's face now, all beet-red-like or something; but he wouldn't. Not this time, because I see the place now, all gross and old and musty smelling. Hopefully Max forgot all about…

"Emilia Swift!"

Or maybe not. Ah, another day at the Public library, where you can break the golden rule, but you have to be quiet about it or face the wrath of MAXAMILLION BARNES!!! A very short, bald Italian man who may or may not be in the mafia. I certainly don't want to be the one to find out.

Just living the not-so- great dream if a lower class girl in New Jersey, the "armpit of America". God I wish something would happen to me before I jet off to college, that is, if I could afford it. Hmmm, what's that sound?

The Doctor began to realize why many people called this little state the "armpit of America". It was dirty, musty, and smelly. He was pretty sure that some pile of rags just moved. But no matter, here he was in the present day (he hoped) in the States. Well, maybe a quick trip to the library would make him feel better; giving that there weren't any Vashta Nerada around. But of course, he was here for the books. Funny thing humans had, a certain obsession over the printed word and he liked that. Humans, who try to be as great as possible, like that idiot Alexander. Man didn't even know that Bucephalus wasn't in fact a horse, but a gatekeeper in the Horus Probes galaxy.

"That was interesting." The Doctor felt a sudden chill, as if something that was a lost part of time were falling back into place. Shrugging, he opened the door and was assaulted by the smell of dusty old books and even dustier old ladies, mixed with the perfume of some young girl, who was busily putting books away, as if she was late. Her head slightly turned as she heard him enter, but was too busy to help him. He thought he knew her from somewhere, but couldn't place it. He quietly cleared his breath and she turned, her eyes, peaceful and blue, stared into his.

There was that chill again, this time, he knew it wasn't the cool September air. Something wasn't right, and she was the answer to it all. He had to ask that one question, that one question that she would answer to even if she didn't even know it.

"Sorry to disturb you," he began, a smile tugging his mouth at his own cleverness, " but do you have a copy of the Faerie Book?"

* * *

I was too mystified to answer. His eyes, they made me forget where and when I was, all I could see were those to brown eyes, they looked, looked, _deep_. It was when he whistled and waved his hand in front of my face did I blink and try to stammer out an answer.

"Uh, hold on, let-lemme check." I spoke, what an accomplishment for someone like me when I was just staring at him like an idiot. God he must think I'm mentally retarded or something. Walking over to the computer, I typed out "Fairy Book" and no results came up. Waving a wisp of dark-red hair out of my face, I tried an older name: Faerie book. That singular result in the library computer must have changed my life. It was registered under me, and it was overdue almost _six_ _YEARS_ _ago_! Well, hell, I can't tell him that I have the book, which would just make him do some weird stuff, like threaten me or something to return the book. So I lied, lied through my teeth like any good Swift child:

"Um, well, no we don't but I could try calling a—HEY!" the crazy man _grabbed_ my arm, and yanked it closer to his eyes, and began to look at it through some glasses he pulled out of his pocket, staring at my tattoo on my arm.

"Brilliant, just _fantastic_, if I do say so myself, it's as if these markings just appeared after hundreds of years." The man began speaking in some kind of envious voice, like he'd never seen a tattoo before. God, what the fuck is wrong with this man? I pulled my arm free of his grip and walked away from the door.

Max began to approach me, his face the classic shade of beet-red, and yelled (quietly of course, this _is_ a library after all) a volley of threats that would make Stalin jealous. I just pushed on past, grabbed my coat and bag, and proceeded right out the door, dozens of people staring at me like they would a freak at the circus.

"weirdo".


	3. Chapter 2

**The Face-Off, and Emmy is Saved**

No sooner had I walked out of the library than I heard that loony voice calling my name. wait, how did he know my name? I don't remember telling him, unless that traitor Max told him. Great, now he caught up to me, telling me to just listen.

"Go away!" I said in my best man-voice. He just gave that same quirky smile on his face, like I just asked him on a date or something.

"Now aren't we just charming? Let me try this again. 'Ello, I'm the Doctor. You are…?" What? Now he's being _sarcastic_? Oh great, a crazy, sarcastic man.

"Doctor Who?"

"Exactly."

"What?" This was too weird. Here is this man, calling himself "the Doctor" and here I am, _speaking _to a man called the Doctor. By the edge of the woods, at night—wait. It's only 5:30, even in the fall, it's never this dark _this_ early. I start to edge over to my bike, hoping, wishing I could make a clean getaway. If I just distract him a little bit longer…

"Are you all right? You seem a bit pale, and you are teetering," the man called the Doctor starts to reach toward me when I feel it. This feeling, like I'm going to drown, or fall, or both washes over me. I'm falling to my knees and the Doctor tries to keep me up, concern written all over his face. He feels concerned for me? What's going on, why is there this pain, everywhere? I can't breathe, my head is killing me, what's going on? Help, HELP!

"Hey! Back off man!" who is that? Peter? Oh thank Jesus, my stepbrother's here. Did he hear me? Did I say "help" out loud? My head's clearing. Good.

"Pete, I'm fine, he was just making sure I was okay." Wait, now I'm vouching for this man?!?

"Pete, please, he was just…I'm fine Pete…Pete…PETER!"

He stopped mid-sentence, he was accusing this man, the Doctor, of trying to hurt me? This was too much, I have to leave. I hop on my bike, and take off. Ha, they can't catch me now….

* * *

_Now, where did she go? This was not good, she needs to come to the TARDIS, and she needs that book_, the Doctor thought. _The boy called Peter, he was the real danger, _and now he was leaving. Peter began to turn, as if pulled by an invisible string.

"Well, this is interesting, Peter, yoo-who, hello mi-boy?" _hmm_. Peter was moving, heading towards the entrance to the park, and Emilia's exit. Pulling his sonic screwdriver, he began to scan the surrounding area for any traces of alien DNA or past visits. The scanner went off the roof. _Oh dear_, he thought, _there seem to be actually Frindovites in the area. This is NOT good_.

The Doctor took off toward the park, and making sure the sonic screwdriver was ready. He took off toward the woods when he heard the most horrible scream. It's sound echoed off his head, and settled in his brain, nestling deep in his fears. Even with all the things he faced, all the things he's seen, never has he heard a scream like this. He bolted off into the woods, hoping, _pleading_ she wasn't hurt, or worse.

It wasn't long before he reached a small clearing, not too far from the TARDIS. There he saw four large, humanoid shapes that surrounded the girl, mouths drooling and foaming at the mouth, whining, waiting.

They may have been human, or something nearly that. Their black, stringy hair that covered their lidless, white eyes. The Frindovites had a dark, rotten green skin that was scaly, and tough, like a tortoise. Inside Frindovite spit was venom that could kill a grown man in about 10 minutes. They were waiting, waiting for her to make a move, one single move, so they could attack. For the Doctor, it was almost impossible to help her. Almost.

The boy Peter was standing before her, a piece of torn and bloodied shirt hanging from his hand. She was hunched over; left hand grasping her shoulder, blood oozing from an open wound. She was crying.

"Peter, what's going on, what did you do to me?" she was searching for some spark that Peter lacked.

"Emilia, Where is the Book? Tell me, and I won't let them hurt you anymore. Will even make you one of them. It is truly magical. No pain, sadness, hurt, anger. Would you like that?" he was saying this, but some guttural undertone to his voice made him seem inhuman.

"Peter, I don't know what you talking about, help me. Please." She spoke more feebly now, the bite on her shoulder was darkening, and the veins around her face were popped out, like the very life-blood was poisoning her with every pump of her heart. This, this torturing by the hands of her own people sickened the Doctor, and she could do nothing to stop this. But maybe, he could. He stepped into the lamplight, dimmed by this darkness that appeared out of nowhere.

"Now, now, can't we all just get along? You know, how about you let her go, and I will let you go in peace, and I won't notify the shadow proclamation about your little genocide in the 32nd century."

"You," said Peter, "who are you? The shadow proclamation knows nothing of us. To them, we are all dead. I must ensure that it remains that way." Peter turned back toward the girl, uttering, "Kill her."

She issued another scream as the four shapes lunged at her. The sound of teeth closing on flesh was heard and the scream was cut off.

"NOOO!" exclaimed the Doctor, and he pushed a button several times on the sonic screwdriver, the tool emitting a high-pitched noise, causing the Frindovites to recoil in shock and pain. Peter quickly snapped his fingers and the sonic screwdriver cut off, leaving the Doctor to wonder how some human could do that.

"Now I remember, you are the Doctor. Do you think that your shadow proclamation can stop me? By the time they hear of my plans, my people's survival, it will be too late. Every world in this universe will be under _my_ control. How is it that the only one who can stop me is this pathetic excuse for a girl who doesn't even know what she is and what she can do. I will prevent her hundreds of years of sacrifice." The Doctor was thinking frantically of a way he could keep those Frindovites away from her, and trying to figure out how he can get rid of Peter before he could actually kill her.

"Well now, can't we make some kind of deal? You know, I leave you alone, you can leave and I take her. You don't kill anyone and I don't kill anything. Everyone ends up happy. Just the way I like it." Using his biggest smile, hopefully that would keep Peter off of Emilia.

"You——" he couldn't finish the sentence. Suddenly a light streaked out of the sky, and began to brighten, causing the Frindovites to scream and whine in pain, the blindness making them cower and scratch at their eyes. The Doctor looked on in wonder as a small orb, a crudely cut diamond, hung in the middle of the park, over Emmy's body. It glowed brighter and brighter, and enveloped the Doctor and Peter, in a warm, bathing light. As the doctor shut his eyes against the light, the light went out, and Peter and his Frindovites were gone.

The Doctor ran over to the crumpled body of Emilia Swift. He cupped both hands around her face, and she awoke, gasping and crying.

"Oh God, OW!" she yelled, and tried to move. The Doctor held her down, as gently as possible.

"Don't, don't do that, let me help you. Be still." He hushed her, and she became limp once again. He scooped her up, the necklace and her discarded messenger bag, and carried her unconscious body back to the TARDIS.

Laying her as gently in one of the spare rooms, he set the necklace on her chest, and opened the bag. Inside was an old, leather-bound book. There were strange runes on the cover that the Doctor immediately recognized. He opened the book to a page near the back, where he saw just how to keep her alive, so she can heal. He turned back to the bed, where she was beginning to choke, the Frindovite venom still coursing through her slim figure. He figured that she maybe had a few minutes to live.

The Doctor closed the book and laid a hand on the necklace, and spoke the words, "heal". The necklace began to glow once more, though it wasn't as bright, in fact, it was a strange green color. The light began to swirl around the tattoos on her frame, and her breathing eased. The wounds began to close up, and the veins settled back into the skin, no longer bulging and blue. The light receded, and she was at peace.

The Doctor smiled, realizing that her peace wouldn't last long. He knew that he had to help her. _Emilia must bring life back to her planet, Faeralia_, he thought. He knew that she was in for a long, hard road, one that would take her through time, and space. He knew that he had to help her, as he was her guide, the council at the citadel had told him. The Doctor stood up.

"Well, might as well start now," he spoke, to no one in particular, "how about New New York? Or 17th century Salem?" _Ahh, the places we'll go_, the Doctor thought.

"Allons-y!"


	4. Chapter 3

**Emmy Awakes and Learns Her Destiny**

I see a light. That's really bizarre, as that usually means I'm dead. But aren't lights usually bright, and _white_? This is green, warm and inviting. I like it, but this pain kind of gets in the way, so I push it aside. Ah, that's better. Gosh I am tired, yet there is something I need to do. What is it? I can't remember. Unconsciousness is getting the better of me, so I might as well rest, for now.

Wait. Where am I? I bolt upright and am rewarded with a fresh shot of soreness in my shoulder, back, legs and arm. Ow, that really hurt. But seriously, where in hell am I? As I lean over to get up, a necklace falls from my chest to my lap. I haven't seen this thing since 7th grade. Now where did you come from? How did I get in this bed, and why is there dried _blood_ on my shirt? What's going on? My breathing picks up and I am once again given the satisfaction of a pain in my chest. I place the necklace on top of a book by the bedside table, and proceed to walk into the hall. Well, this is different, but at least I'm not in a morgue. I think. More hallways, and yet still no clue how I got here. Last thing I remember is running into the park, and some_thing_ following me.

"Oh, she's awake!" crap. I thought I got rid of this guy? Hmmm, what do I say now, what's his name? The Doctor?

"How did I get here? And, Doctor is it? Take me home, NOW!" why does he keep smiling at me? Wait, now I remember: he saved me, from Peter, who tried to kill me…

"What's going on? Where am I?"

"Welcome to the TARDIS. I hope you don't mind, but I had to bring you back here. You almost died. But all is well, now that you're awake, we can begin the search. You know, if it wasn't for me, you would be dead, so you should be thanking me, not yelling." The Doctor spoke. Wow, egotistical much? I guess I should thank him, but something I see in him reminds me I have to do something. What is it? That book, that necklace, and something, but what?

"Are you all right? Don't faint again, I really don't think I could make it to you in time…"

"No, it's just that I'm trying to remember something, like a lost memory, or a type of skill. But I don't care; I just want to know what on God's green Earth is a TARDIS?"

"Oh, of course, well, this is my time machine. I can take you anywhere in the universe, through time, and all that. Now, where would you like to go? But, could you take a shower? You smell like dead Frindovite and there's blood all over you. Once you freshen up, I can try to help you." The Doctor said, almost like he was being smug about it. And there is that smile, that stupid idiotic smile.

"Fine, just point me to the bathroom." He gestured towards a different hallway, and I followed it. It led me to a spacious bathroom, a large shower and a full-length mirror. I started the water ant took off my bloodied and stinky clothes. I wonder what a Frindovite was and wondered how he would know what a dead one smells like. Surveying the damage the Doctor alluded to, I saw nothing more than some thin white lines that cut through the black ink tattoo on my right shoulder, and ditto on my both right and left arms. There were more marks along my back and left leg. God, what _happened_ to me? Forget it Emmy just clean yourself up. I stepped in the shower and was rewarded by the hot water caressing my entire body. For what seemed too short a time, I cleaned up with some shampoo and body wash that was half-empty. That's weird; this stuff seems more for a woman than a man like the Doctor. Who knows, maybe he had a friend here once.

I walked back to the room wrapped in a towel. On the bed was a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and other such items. Hmm, did he have a daughter? Oh well, better hurry back, wouldn't want his highness to wait for me. Before I leave the room, I put on the necklace I woke up with, and notice the book for the first time. It looks roughly like the size of a bible, but the gold lettering I haven't seen before. Wait, did the lettering change? God I must be losing it. Maybe the Doctor can help me. I take the book with me, just in case he can tell me about it. Making my way down the hallway to the main room, I feel a type of apprehension, like what I am about to learn will change me for the rest of my life. Great.

* * *

The Doctor waited patiently for Emmy to return. He hoped that the clothes he "picked up" from a local store would be sufficient enough for her. The Doctor knows that he needs to tread carefully. Saying something wrong would certainly make her want to leave. He was silently pondering how to best approach the subject of Emmy's home world, or lack thereof, when she reappeared around the corner. Giving her his best smile, he straightened up and bade her to sit. She just stared at him, the Doctor getting a look like _if you want to tell me something, get it over with. _He took a deep breath, and began.

"Right, so how do I put this. Peter was trying to kill you. He wanted to make sure that you could not stop his reemergence. You see, Faeralia was your planet. It was about twice the size of the earth, and it was beautiful. There was nothing that could ever go wrong with it, especially during the time of color, when the mountains began to shift and change, and when the migration started in the plains…but that is no more. It would be around the 32nd century when a man, your Peter, wanted to control it all. Your ruling government tried to stop him. They created that book and a series of objects that would bring around his destruction. They hid them through time and space, and worked with the Time Lords—that would be me, by the way—to create a guide to help the keeper—you—restore the planet should it fall.

"Peter learned of this plot and decided to act earlier than necessary. He," here the Doctor paused, as if the thought of re-telling this terrible tale would cause him to get so angry that he would destroy half the world to get to Peter, "he set off a gas that killed 99.5% of your population, over six billion people. There was a .1% that was Faeralians your government thought would be the keeper and scattered them throughout Earth. The .4% turned into the Frindovites, Peter's slaves that could not be affected by the gas. He created a time lock around the planet, something that would keep it in its current state in the future as well as the past, until he came back to rule it. The future of your race is up to you; find where the book tells you to get the objects. Then and only then can the time lock be destroyed and you bring Faeralia back to life.

* * *

"So, what do you think?"

What do I think? What do I THINK?!? This is _genocide_ we are talking about here! Holy frack, this is too much. God, what do I do?

"I think that you are crazy. I mean, Faeralia, Peter, and the end of my _world_! This has to be a dream. Yeah, that's it, I'm dreaming. I fell off my bike on my way to work, and am unconscious. Wake up Emilia, wake UP!"

I start to beat my hands against my head. And the Doctor is staring at me and he looks truly sad. The next thing I know, he grabs my hands and I'm crying. He holds me, whispering that it's all right. Only how can it be? We sit like this for who knows how long. I pull back, suddenly embarrassed. I mean, come on, here I am, bawling in front of a stranger, and he is reacting to me like I'm his child or something.

"Uh…um…sorry." I stand up, and try to run to my room. He grabs my wrist, gently but firmly. I stare into his eyes again, and I have a feeling that what he says is true. Maybe this isn't a dream; maybe what he told me must be true. Sighing, I've made up my mind.

"Fine, where to first?"


	5. Chapter 4

**Fireflies**

"All right!" yelled the Doctor, running around to the opposite side of TARDIS, and began to pull some levers. He runs around to the other side, nearly knocking over Emmy, and flipped some switches. This is what he loved, going off with a new companion into the great unknown, discovering new worlds, meeting new people…well, of course that _could_ be complicated due to the fact most beings, alien or human, either are afraid of him, or have no earthly idea who the Doctor is.

Before pushing one final button, he asked, "well, are you ready?"

"Am I ever going to be?" responded Emmy. Beaming her his best smile, he slammed down his hand on the button. The TARDIS lurched forward, and Emmy with it, barely holding on to the rail and nearly colliding with the Doctor. He seemed to love it. His smile grew wider and wider as the TARDIS began its flight into past, present, or future, or even somewhere in between. As the old time machine grew steadier, she let go of the rail, and began to question his sanity.

"Okay, so where are we going? She rubbed her hands, she was holding on so tightly. He eyes gleamed with the prospect of the new world.

"Oh, I don't know, isn't it wonderful? Don't you want to be surprised when you step out? I mean, we could end up anywhere, any_when_. Isn't that fun?" the Doctor smiled at his own cleverness. Emmy just stared.

"Well, first I think you might be crazy. Second of all, how do you know that where we end up, we might not be able to breathe when we get there?"

"Oh, of course we'll be able to breathe, the TARDIS makes sure of that, usually." Emmy was about to respond when the TARDIS slammed to a stop, and she fell towards the Doctor, who promptly caught her. "We're here. Now, allons-y!"

The Doctor stepped towards the door of the TARDIS, and stepped out, Emmy following close behind, not wanting to stay in here. She had a suspicious feeling that the time machine wasn't just a piece of junk, after all. Closing the door behind her, the TARDIS sat and waited.

Five seconds later, the door burst open and Emmy and the Doctor scrambled in, gasping for air.

"I thought…you said…the TARDIS…would make sure…we'd be able…to BREATHE?"

"Well," the Doctor said, breathing a little bit easier than his companion. "Maybe I made a mistake in reading the vitals before we stepped outside. Oh, well, lets try this again, shall we?" he pushed some buttons, pulled a lever, and slammed his palm on the larger button as before. The "vworp" of the TARDIS sounded and they were off. Holding out a hand, the Doctor spoke. "Any questions?"

* * *

"You've got to be kidding me." I exclaimed, shoving away his hand and standing up myself. "How is it that you can be just fine, roaming through the universe, without even knowing where you go? Don't you bother to _really_ check these screens? What would happen if you landed in the bottom of an ocean or something?"

"Isn't that the fun part? You know, the surprise one gets when you end up on a random planet, in a faraway galaxy, it's priceless the faces on some of my companions." He seemed totally at ease with this whole situation. Like he had done this for centuries. Had he?

I had to ask. "Who _are_ you?" a simple enough question, but with millions of answers. Of course he has no clue, "I told you, I'm the Doctor. A Time Lord, the last." Ouch. Maybe I should have been more specific, "okay, that totally narrows it down for me. Seeing as I'm kind of new to the whole not-the-only-species-in-the-universe deal, try telling me a little bit more about more about yourself. Like, have you had any other, what do you call them? Companions? Or how long have you been doing this? Or even, how _old_ are you?" simple enough, I hope.

"Well, first, yes I have, tons of them. Second, a _really_ long time. Third, and that's a little bit more personal but oh well, I am about 900 years old. Give or take a few decades. Anything else?"

Okay, my mind has officially been blown. Jesus Christ, even I couldn't guess he would be _that_ old. The TARDIS bumped along and all I could do was wonder, what does he feel? The Doctor continued to stare at me, that stupid grin on his face. Then the TARDIS began to utter that same noise again, and he ran to the console.

"Now, see here? There is a perfect amount of atmosphere for us to breathe; I don't think you will have a problem. Alright? Let's go!"

He ran to the door and opened it. I slowly made my way to the opening, and stepped outside. He followed soon after. Something was wrong here, there seemed to be nothing. Oh, I could feel the grass under my sneakers, and feel the breeze against my face, but it seemed to be nothing but blackness.

"Oh, no. I'm so sorry." The Doctor whispered. What was that about? I'm so sorry? What would he need to apologize to me about?

"Um…what?"

"No, not you. The people here. I remember coming here once, and it was beautiful. The sky was a beautiful orange color, and the people were so friendly. Now, there is nothing. Nothing here but emptiness." Wow. That was almost poetic. What's next, an alien space monster coming out to eat us both?

"What happened?"

"Don't know. Maybe a result of your Peter boy messing around with the universe, or the Time War, or a random event in time. But the real question is—what is that?"

Well, that was weird. I guess… "Wait. It looks like a light. Am I dead?"

"No you are definitely not dead." The Doctor told me. Taking out the do-hickey he seems to keep magically within his pockets, he pushed a button and scanned the area. All the while, that little light crept even closer. Now I am starting to freak out, what _is_ that thing?

"Doctor…"

* * *

Emmy began to wonder, how this little light seemed to be moving in an insect-like pattern. The Doctor pocketed his screwdriver and met face to face with the little thing.

"Aww, it's a little firefly. Hello there." The little bug flew up and down around the Doctor's face, and then ran right in front of Emmy's nose. It began to settle on the tip, and Emmy leaned back, trying to avoid the tiny thing.

"Um, get off!" and she shook her head to rid herself the pest. All it kept doing was flying right back onto her nose, then her arm, her chest, and finally that necklace. The crystal orb began to glow with the same inner light the firefly had. Suddenly, out of nothing and nowhere, millions of the things flew up and began to gather around her and the Doctor. As one settled on his skin, the Doctor noticed how it had a warmth to it, like when you sit too close to another being. They settled on everything and everywhere.

"Doctor, this is kinda weird. Can we go?" in response, the fireflies began to lift her off the ground, as well as the Doctor, and flew off with the two passengers of time and space. As the Doctor began to smile and look over at Emilia, he noticed something. The little bugs weren't bugs; they were _people_. Putting on his glasses, he saw that each thing was a person, and they were waving at him.

Every little detail, down to the hair, was exact on the people he had met here before. He saw that Emmy was finally relaxing, and seemed to smile as the warmth of these creatures took them onward and upward.

Landing on top of what would have been a hill, the fireflies/people set them down ever so gently. The ones that had aided the Doctor in moving began to move around the girl. They ran themselves through her hair, and went around and under her. They spun faster and faster, swirling around her entire being. She began to look like a single sun in a world of darkness. The bugs stopped and they began to glow brighter. The only thing he could see were Emmy's two blue eyes, widened in surprise, and the fireflies exploded from her body, spreading out over the hill.

Some swirled around the ground, and a large bowl suspended in mid-air seemed to grow out of the ground like a sped up showing of a flower rising from a seed. The Doctor stepped forward, and looked inside the bowl.

The water that filled the bowl was rippling from his touch. The cloudy waters spread outward as a scene unfolded before him. He saw how a strange blue mist descended upon these people, and he saw the people shrink and gain that glow as they turned into the fireflies. A crystal that held that world together flew into the ground, and the writing telling of how only the one-who-flies can remove it from the stone it was shoved down into.

The water boiled out and over the bowl, burning the Doctor's hands.

* * *

The Doctor yelled, and I woke up from that dream.

Those warm fireflies whispered me things. Things about my life, my homeland, my family. They told me about the Doctor, how he traveled the universe in a time machine, and all the things he saw and changed. They told me how even though he was supposed to stay away from, staying out of the past, how he changed them that ended up moving the fabric of time. _He could help me_, they said. _He could help us_, they said. But what did that mean? They seemed to read my thoughts and showed me the image, the image of their transformation.

I was about to hear something else when he yelled, waving his hands like they were burned. I suddenly saw what they meant. _He is the savior, the one who saves us all_, I thought. Or did they put that in my mind?

"Doctor? What is the crystal they told me about? Is that an 'item'?"

"I'm so sorry, I don't know. And I don't ever not know, which is weird. Normally I'm right about these kinds of things. But that mist I saw, that was something that shouldn't have happened, not here. Well, it could be—wait, what is the 'one-who-flies'?" he seemed really confused about this. The thoughts reached my mind again. There was too much, like someone trying to shove too much bread into one slot of a toaster. This is giving my brain a headache.

The thoughts stopped. Except for one. God, why do I feel like something is pulling me somewhere? Does it want me to go this way?

Following the pull, I staggered down the hill. Those thoughts keep making me dizzy, like I had been drinking. The pull seems to get me closer to the side of a mountain. As I get closer to the crystal rock, I see that there is an opening, a fissure, barely wide enough for one person to squeeze through. I sidestep in, hoping the Doctor is behind me. The thoughts grow stronger, but they sound almost like too many people talking at once, trying to out-speak each other, they are so loud.

_Quick, this way._

_ No, this way._

_ Hurry, hurry._

_ The Doctor will follow._

_ Yes, he must._

_ Do not worry, we shall show you the way._

_ Please, please—_

Shut up, shut UP! This has to stop. The voices get louder and louder, it's too much. I have to get out of here; it's too small, too cramped. Doctor!

"Emmy! Emmy look at me. You need to relax, clear everything. You've got to relax, just look at me. Please." The Doctor must have heard my thought, or did I scream? I notice that I am curled up, my hands over my ears. Gasping, I looked into his eyes. His bore into mine, and suddenly the thoughts were gone. Like when a father dashes any bad dreams from his daughter's bedroom with one goodnight kiss on the forehead. I took the hand that was held out for me. I never broke his stare until I heard a note.

We had entered a large cavern; in stark contrast with small opening I entered in. In the center was a smooth crystal-clear column. Inside was a darker-colored stone, about the size of my palm, and roughly shaped like prism, but rougher on all but two of the edges. The tower seemed to move, like a column of water, but with a more solid substance. The pull tells me to take the stone, but my fingers hit the surface, instead of sinking in and taking it, like I thought it would.

The Doctor tried.

His sank easily into the surface, and he took the stone. Pulling it out, he placed it in my palm. _This is so warm, _I thought, and I instantly curled my fingers around the surface.

The color exploded around me, and the smoke that was trapped inside leeched out, and began to spread out, out into the world. I turned and ran out, wondering where it was going. I couldn't hear anything, save for a faint calling of my name. Ignoring it, I squeezed back through, and saw what was happening. The darkness that enveloped the world was lifting. And the fireflies began to come out once again, in the thousands, the millions. I heard the Doctor walk out beside me, and gasp.

"This is amazing." I told him, and saw he had the same look on his face, like mine. The fireflies grew, lengthened, and, soon enough, there were people standing before me, their skin glowing a light blue.

One of them came up to me, smiling. She seemed a wizened woman, her hair pure white and flowing almost to the ground behind her. She bowed before me and spoke, "Emilia, we have waited a long time for you and the Doctor to save us. My dear child, you have only just begun. That stone you hold will tell you more, but at the right time. " She looked at the Doctor, and bowed her head. He followed suit, speaking, "your Majesty, I will do everything in my power to make sure she completes the task, I feel that if I couldn't save my own planet, I should at least save hers."

What was he talking about? I realize there is more to the Doctor than I thought of. I wonder what happened. No matter, I'm sure he will tell me in time. The woman turned to me, and smiled. Why do I feel like I've known her from somewhere? Like that face reminds me of a past I never had. I bowed my head like the Doctor.

"You, my child, have a long way to go. I must send you off, my people and I have a lot of work to do" she told me. She turned back to the other people and they went off.

The Doctor and I walked back to the TARDIS. It was waiting for us. As I stepped inside, I looked down at the stone. It was glowing with some preternatural light. I looked in the center and I saw a sword. Some Mesopotamian man in the desert held it. I knew now where I had to go.

"Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"The TARDIS can go anywhere in the universe, or even back on Earth in time, right?"

"Of course. What did you see?"

"Just an item, a sword. Shall we?" I asked him. He looked at my smirk, and smiled himself.

"Allons-y!" and we were off.


	6. Chapter 5

**Tale of an Amnesiac**

A girl found herself by the curb of a street in London. How she got there, she didn't know. What she did know was that there was a lingering feeling she was missing something, like she needed to find something, someone.

Picking herself up off the storm drain, she began to wander around the streets. A light snow began to fall, and she was wearing nothing more than a slim nightgown, and silk slippers. Her head was throbbing in pain, and she felt something sticking inside her head, like a pin. Gingerly taking her hand, she reached behind her left ear, near the hairline, and her index finger touched the tip of a type of metal.

Suddenly, a searing pain shot through the base of her skull, and coursed through her entire being. She started screaming, and grabbing at herself, wishing for it to stop. Curling up in a ball, she continued to scream. Looking down at herself, she saw twisting and curling lines snaking along her arms, and around her body. They burned with a fire that tried to eliminate the pain that threatened to kill her. She collapsed in the snow, and curled tighter and tighter within her, pleading the pain would cease. And so it did.

Loosening her grip on her body, she wished that she was back home, but where that was, she didn't know. And who she was, she also didn't know. She didn't know who, where, or what she was, and that made her scared. She began to cry.

Emilia Swift lay down, sobbing, in the snow, hoping she would remember.

* * *

_One day earlier._

I ran after the Doctor, the sound of Nordic men shouting after me, into the TARDIS. I slammed closed the door, and the yelling ceased.

"Okay, so maybe Iceland _wasn't_ the right place to find the sword. I was so sure." I told the Doctor. One week later since the Fireflies, and that idiotic stone hasn't shown anything right. Of course, the Doctor takes in all in stride. In fact, he seemed to be having fun. Yeah, if your idea of "fun" is being chased around by a bunch of raving lunatics wearing animal skins, and taking orders from Leif Ericson. Man, was he determined to get to Canada.

"Weeelll, it wasn't your best choice. But, on the plus side, at least you got a taste of what a Viking looks like. Not at all like those stupid operas, and 'toons, are they?" the Doctor grinned, and I grinned back. I may fail when it comes to finding one of the items, but at least I'm _traveling_ with the Doctor. Not only through time but space as well. Shaking my head, I had to agree. I am learning things that school could never teach me, like how to keep a Mesopotamian man happy, and finding the right formula for Einstein. Jesus, that was hard.

Heading over to the console, I bent down and reached for the book, and opened to a page. The symbols where easier to make out now, what with the TARDIS helping me out. Still, it was a little weird knowing that a machine was messing around inside my head. I murmured a few words, and I saw the stone begin to glow again. Looking in the depths, I saw—nothing.

Sighing in disgust, I slammed the book shut, and chucked it on the ground. Straightening back up, I said, "well, I got nothing. Any ideas?"

"Okay, lets go on a little trip. Ever been to London?" the Doctor asked.

"Really? That's it?"

"In the 1800s?" he grinned at me.

"Why no, I don't believe I haven't." I said, sarcastically.

He beamed at me, turned and ran around the console, twisting knobs, pushing buttons, and spinning wheels. He pointed to a knob and asked me to push it. I did, and the TARDIS lurched forward, and we were off. A few seconds later, it jerked to a stop, and we are there. Man, this is cool. 19th century London? Who _wouldn't_ want to go there? As I walk around to the door, the Doctor stops me.

"Wait, before you get out, I need to give you this." He held out a key, and placed it in my hand, very serious-like.

"What is this, a house key?"

"In a way, it to the TARDIS. If anything were to happen, should we get separated, you have to come back here. Straight back, got it?"

"Please, Doctor, I'm with you. What could happen?" why is he so serious? I know, that as long as I'm with him, he can take care of me, like he is the father I never had. What is it; he said he was, that he is a guide, like a guardian to me?

"_So, Doctor? That woman called you my what? A guide? What does that even mean?" I asked him as the TARDIS flew off into the great unknown._

_ "It means I have to help you. There are items to be found, and, last time I checked, I have the only TARDIS in town. I can take you wherever you need to go, and at any part in time, all throughout the universe. Who knows, one day we could be in India, or we will end up in Barcelona. That's the planet, not the city. Have you ever been? Great place, Barcelona." The Doctor was excited about this, I could tell. The way he carried himself, how he spoke, acted, _was_. I couldn't help but notice a lingering sadness though, like he missed something, or someone. In a flash, it was gone, and the good old Doctor remained behind. _

_ "Well, what are we waiting for? What does that little stone of yours tell you where to go? Hope it's somewhere fun, like in the 25__th__ century. Got ta love the New Man Monks, they know how to party." He wondered aloud. I couldn't help but smile._

To humor him, I took the key. Showed him that I put it around my neck, and saw how the grim look was wiped off his face. He stepped in front of me, opened the door, and motioned for me to step into the outside world. Walking out, the Doctor followed behind me, closing the TARDIS behind him. In the street was a bustle of activity. There where people _everywhere_, in the streets, in taverns, shops, and bars. There was an air of expectation about the place, like something was going to happen, something exciting.

"This. Is. _Awesome_!" I told him. He beamed that trademark smile of his and offered his arm. I took it, and he led me through the hustle and bustle, to a place that may be a type of hotel, give about a hundred years, or so. He took a paper from a trashcan, and read the date.

"Ha! See I got the date perfectly right, give or take a decade. Seems like its December 1852. So make sure you stay quiet, don't think the locals will take too kindly to an American—still too touchy on the War front—much less a girl wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Right, lets go." And with that great little tidbit, we went into a very small and crowed hotel. The Doctor strode up to the counter, and a girl, younger than me offered a drink.

"Uh, no thanks. I actually need a room for my…maid and myself for the night. Any vacancies?" what can I say, the man gets to the point. Did he just call me his maid?

"Of course, I can get you one, and I'll bring in a cot for the girl. And I have a dress that might fit you, what sort of place are you from that allows you to wear men's clothin', and a strange fabric 'tis, too?" she looked at me with contempt. I was about to open my mouth for a retort when the Doctor looked down at me, with a _keep-quiet-or-you'll-regret-it_ stare. The words died in my mouth.

"Sorry, she's mute. Hasn't spoken a day in her life, poor dear." He spoke for me. Instantly the girl gave me pity, and took me by the hand, gently, and led me downstairs. The Doctor tried to follow, but she stopped him.

"No sir, you just stay there, I'm only gettin' her clothes. Not going to take her or nothin'." She said with a smile. I nodded, telling him that I would be all right; she's just a girl. I glanced back as we turned and saw a worried look on his face. Geez, I can take care of myself, he's got to stop worrying so much. I followed down the stairs, and entered into a sleeping area of some sort. She went to a small wardrobe, and opened the door, talking to me as she searched through the meager clothing she owned.

"You know, I don't believe him. I can see with my own eyes." She turned around and handed me a simple dress, nightgown, and some shoes. "Your one of them, ain't you? An angel?" uh oh. What do I do now?

She must have seen my slight fear, because she immediately apologized. "Oh, dear, I didn't mean anythin' by it, your secr'ts safe with me, promise." I put on the dress, and headed back upstairs. Before we walked through the door, I whispered a single, "thanks" and she smiled, and nodded. The Doctor took me by the hand, and ushered me through the door.

"Emmy, let me show you what London is like in the 1850s. There are dozens of places we can go. Go see a play. Stroll through Hyde Park see the Crystal Palace. Hmm, wonder if Darwin's anywhere about, love to talk to him, brilliant book…" the Doctor was rambling again. Oh, how he loves these kinds of things, like when he proceeded to tell me _all_ about Leif Ericson and the Vikings as they chased us down the frozen beach. But what I really want to know is how and when to find that sword, just so I can remember, and try to save my people.

"Doctor, shouldn't we be looking for the sword? This seems great and all, but…"

"Emmy, look where you are. You are in London. In the _19__th__ century. _ No one from your time has ever been in this time. Ever. Well, there has been one or two…" The Doctor seemed lost in thought, and I saw a sadness, like he was missing someone, a person he…well, I don't know. I guess I'll have to humor him.

"What where you saying about Hyde Park?"

It was very late when we arrived back at the tavern, and I was exhausted. All of those places we went to, it seemed almost too much. As I headed up to the room, I saw the Doctor tense up, like he saw something out the window.

"Emmy, I'm going out for a walk, I be back later." He said, with a sort of foreboding. Writing it off as restlessness, I headed to the room. Upon entering, I saw that the girl, Molly, had put the nightgown and slippers on the cot. I smiled at her niceties, and stepped out of the dress, and into the garment. I was about to lie down when it hit me. Like some ancient instinct, I slowly turned around as I saw a dark figure in the open doorway. It was Peter. And he was smiling, like when a boy has found a small pet he can torture.

"Hello, Emilia. Fancy meeting you here, in this day, this _time_." I was about to yell, but I couldn't speak, couldn't move. "Don't try anything stupid, girl. I'm only here for a little…proposition, so to speak. Leave, and forget everything. Don't try to find the keys, the items. Your planet, your power belongs to me. Give that to me, and I won't kill you and your Doctor." Yeah, good luck trying that. I know you can't kill a Time Lord, the Doctor told me so. That is when I found my voice, and I hope Peter couldn't hear the fear, only the anger, the hatred I had for him.

"No. I would never give in to you. Leave me alone or I swear I will kill you myself. You committed Genocide, and I will make sure you can kill no more, _Peter_." I only hope he could feel the wrath I was directing toward him, the venom in that last word. I felt angrier when I saw him smile, and chuckle.

"Oh, I was hoping you would say that." He whispered. I was too busy staring him down that I didn't see a small silver object he pulled out of his sleeve. He vaulted over the bed, and swung his right hand toward the side of my head, and I felt a sharp pain hit through it. I collapsed on the floor, and I saw him standing over me, before my world crashed into darkness.

* * *

The Doctor ran outside, as soon as he was out of sight of the tavern. Pulling out his sonic screwdriver, he began to scan the surrounding area, much to the surprise of the locals. _Definitely alien activity in the area_, thought the Doctor. Turning down a small alley, he came face-to-face with the source. There was a makeshift time portal at the dead end, though you couldn't see it, the Doctor could taste it, that metallic, tangy taste.

"What?" he whispered softly, and tentatively reached a hand toward the slight shimmer in the air. A tingling feeling spread through his fingers, and he pulled them back in surprise. He wasn't aware of the figure of the man watching him from the entrance to the alley.

"Well, well, well, what a surprise. You finally found me. Took you long enough, I've been waiting for _hours_." The Doctor turned and saw Peter and three of his little "pets" whining for blood.

"What are you doing here? You do understand this could alter this timeline, and in turn change history?"

"Like I care. I just want you to know that you are in over you head, even for you. Doctor. I had a little talk with Emilia earlier, and she shared my thoughts."

"What did you do to her?" the Doctor spat. This was not good. A deranged Faeralian with homicidal tendencies should _not_ be in the 1850s London, much less following himself and Emmy.

"Lets just say we had a little, a little _understanding_ about how we should be dealing with out planet. Don't worry; I can say she is still alive. But good luck—" the Doctor didn't hear the rest, he ran past, back towards the tavern. He ran inside, and nearly ran into the girl he met this morning.

"Where is she?" he demanded, beyond trying to be friendly at this point. Emmy is in danger.

"Sir, I, don' understand what you are askin'? Is your maid not in the room?"

"Sorry, no time for stories, you have to help me. Come on!"

"I can' just run off with a stranger, sir, and I can' leave my post, the landlord will have my head, you know."

"Ah, fine. Hello, I'm the Doctor. And if I remember, you're Molly. Good, now we're not strangers. Lets go!" without waiting for a reply, the Doctor took the frightened girl by the hand and raced off in the darkness, nearly running into a cab racing by.

* * *

Emmy lay sobbing in the snow, the aftereffects of the pain throbbing in her system. She felt for the things around her neck, wondering why they are there and what they are for. A thought raced through her head, about a thing called a TARDIS, and the pain shot through her again, stronger this time, and new tears and a wave of screams broke through the darkness of the curb by the alley she lay in.

At that particular moment, the same cabbie raced past.

The man inside, a Lord Henry Whitford heard the scream and asked, "What in God's name is that? I say, Jack, pull over."

"Yes, sir." Replied the driver, pulling the reins, and shushing the horses as the stumbled to a halt. There was nothing particular about Jack, other than wearing the clothes traditionally worn by a member of his station; he had on a strange long blue overcoat, with the pattern most normally worn in the 1940s, a decade nearly one hundred years away. That and he had the American accent.

Without waiting for Jack, Lord Whitford stepped out and went over to the sound of the scream.

"Good God!" he exclaimed, as he caught sight of the girl, now shivering in the cold. Jack Harkness bent down, took one look at the girl, and instantly knew.

"You are a long way from home, aren't you?" his eyes peered into hers, and she began to cry.

"Help…me." And she fainted. Jack picked up the girl, and put her in the cab, much to the dismay of Lord Whitford.

"What in Heaven's name are you doing? You can't possibly think I can take her home, she needs a hospital…"

"In all due respect, sir, there are a lot of things you don't know, and no hospital can help her. We need to get her inside, away from the night. And then I need to find the Doctor, only he can help." Captain Jack said, with every ounce of spite at the Lord for even thinking an earth hospital could begin to aid her.

"The Doctor? That madman you told my sons? What can a story do—?"

"Trust me." And he gently put the girl in the seat, Lord Whitford climbed in, and the cab raced off into the night.


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey everybody, sorry about the wait. If any of you also like X-Men, I'm working on a fanfic there as well. Enjoy my nice LONG chapter.**

**Tale of an Amnesiac: Part II**

The Cab continued on its way, reaching in vain to the large estate before the most of the snow set in. Jack Harkness expected a blizzard, seeing as the time portal was screwing up with the timeline. Any longer, and a rift might open. Again. He searched for any sign of the Doctor, looking for a man wearing the wrong type of clothing, and the long brown overcoat. Taking a small handful of the little marbles one of Lord Whitford's sons gave him. He absently dropped a couple of the glass orbs to the ground. Hoping the Doctor would take the clue.

_Doctor, old boy, where are you?

* * *

_

Dragging the reluctant Molly behind him, he continued to search the surround streets, looking for a glimpse of the girl, or a clue as to where she might be.

"Doctor, I think I should be getting' back to the Tavern, I don' think I can be of any—"

"No, of course you can. Tell, me, what do you know? I could tell you knew Emmy the first moment I laid eyes on you. Plus, you have the look of 'alien interference' all about you. What happened?" the Doctor stared into her eyes.

She seemed to relax at his curious glance. "I remember, one year, I was a bit over five when I was walking by the river when it was icy. The next thing I know is that I fell through the ice and sucked under the water. Bloody cold, it was. I couldn' think, the water sorta, froze me. Before I closed my eyes, I saw this, warm light enter the water on top of me. A person pulled me out, and I felt all warm. A boy was leanin' over me, and then he vanished. He had this inkin' on his arms, like Emmy. And so, I just knew." The girl remembered. Her eyes glassed over at the memory.

The Doctor had a newfound respect for the girl. She stood in the face of so much adversity. She is a lower class girl in 1850s London and she nearly died and could have from any sort of the disease-ridden Thames had throughout the water.

"Well, now. That changes things a bit. In fact, I think you can aid a little bit more now that I know you are a searcher."

"Doctor? A searcher?" the girl wondered. This man is either a genius, or a complete madman.

"Yes. You have a connection. You can feel where she is going, or is. What do you feel?" the Doctor asked. Molly began to turn, trying to "feel" her way to Emmy's hiding place. She walked a direction, and nearly slipped on a sphere of glass under her feet. She picked it up, and felt a small jolt of energy course through her fingers.

Her eyes widened, as she saw a moving image of Emmy being picked up by a man in a strange overcoat, and saw him drive off toward the estate of a Lord Whitford. The Doctor sensed her vision and ran around to face her.

"What? What did you see?" he demanded. Molly blinked, and told him. "She's—asleep, goin' somewhere. I think it's to Lord Whitford. I don' know, Doctor, somethin's wrong with her, like she is tryin' to stay awake, but somethin's cloudin' her memory. I canno' tell a thing. I'm sorry, I'm only tryin' so hard…"

She stumbled onwards, and the Doctor followed. She seemed to be in a kind of trance, like the small object that she held was putting her under a spell. She was confused, but she kept at the same direction, pausing every so often when they came to a turn, and then forging onwards. She seemed immune to the cold, the heavy snowfall that was swirling around her and the Doctor. The city continued to drop the little heat it had left, and the sky grew darker, heavy with the snowfall.

_This is unusual_, the Doctor thought. _Even for London, the sky and the place is bizarrely cold, dark, and…oh no._ The Doctor remembered the time portal, the _temporary_ one. Turning to Molly, he looked into her eyes, and she knew. Something was up. They quickened their pace towards the stately Whitford Manor.

* * *

As the carriage entered the front driveway, Captain Jack jumped from the seat, and got the stable boy to get the horses to the stable. Lord and Lady Whitford got out, the Lord about as red as a tulip at the first sign of spring. He carried the girl inside, and set her on the table in the kitchen. Lord Whitford was extremely unhappy.

"Mr. Harkness, I demand to know what the bloody hell is going on! First you raise your voice to me, your _employer_, of all things, and now you have this, this _urchin_ lying, unconscious on my table. And if you think…"

"No frankly, _Lord_ Whitford, I don't, and you have absolutely no idea as to who she is. In fact, she's the reason why I'm under your _employment _in the first place. Now, shut the HELL up and let me do my job!" Jack towered over the small squat man, and he instantly deflated. He turned to Emmy, and gently woke her up. She began to struggle, and Jack Harkness had to hold her down to prevent her from harming her self further.

"Hush now, I'm here to help. Tell me, what is your name? And where did you get this?" while Torchwood and UNIT told him about the American girl, he had yet to find out something as simple as her name. He put his hand lightly on the TARDIS key and the small crystal orb, which glowed with a sickly yellow color. Emmy's eyes screwed up with pain as she searched her blank mind for the simple secret of her name.

Jack was worried. He went to move the deep red hair out of her face, and tenderly touched the small metal pin that was sticking out of the side of her head. She howled with the excruciating pain that coursed through her body, and she shoved him out of the way with astounding strength. He hit the wall with a sickening thud, momentarily dazed. Shaking away the ringing in his ears he picked himself up. _Well, __**that**__ was fun_, he thought. _Now, where is that Doctor?_ He could try to signal him, but that might alert Peter, which is something he didn't want to do. He might not be able to die, but being underneath the sway of Frindovite venom was something that he hoped would never happen to him. A whimper from her signaled his decision.

"JACK HARKNESS!" yelled Lord Whitford. The short, squat man ran into his face, the lord's color a deep red, almost making him look like a beetroot. "This is an outrage! How dare you bring this urchin into my home and place her on the place where no dirt should be on, and you then consider her to be of more importance than my own well being! What if she has some disease, you could put us all in danger. I want you to take this filth out of my house this INSTANT!" with each word, Whitford's face grew a darker shade of red, until it threatened to cut off his oxygen supply and knock him unconscious. Jack could only hope.

"Trust me, she is of higher royalty than the queen herself. Now, would _please_ stop getting in my way and try to be of some usefulness for once in your life!" Jack barked. Whitford deflated, and his face turned the normal shade of pasty white. Jack turned back to Emmy, and he gently pulled the orb off of her neck. Her breathing grew faster, as her normal atmosphere was gone, replaced with the less oxygen-filled one of Earth. Jack realized that he needed to be quick.

Rubbing the orb in his hand, he hoped the crystal would begin to glow, alerting anyone who would know the electron signature that hissed through the air. Very few beings could detect the subtle change in the atmosphere, but a slight electricity went through the air, only felt by those with a finer tuned sense of matter around them. The Doctor was one of them.

* * *

The Doctor and Molly felt the air tickle with an unseen force. They looked at each other, and quickened their pace even further toward the manor. The gates were in sight when they felt that someone, or some_thing_ was watching them. Pulling out the sonic screwdriver, the Doctor immediately scanned the area for Frindovite activity. About ten, no fifteen of the beings were scattered around the area, slowly closing in on the grounds. Peter knew she was here. Pushing a button, the Doctor hoped that it would buy them some time, even if it were a few minutes. The sound of ear-piercing howls filled the air. The screwdriver never failed.

Unlocking the gate, the Doctor and Molly ran inside. Jack was waiting for them. Beaming, Jack embraced the shocked and angered Doctor.

"What—no, how did you get here?" he demanded. The Doctor made sure his time vortex could not send him anywhere that Jack Harkness wanted to go. Jack just smiled and chuckled.

"Long story short. UNIT knows about your little Faeralian. So does Torchwood, and they lent me to UNIT, and they sent me here. Do you mind? She may be dying, and I think I know what it is.

Jack led them to the kitchen, where Emmy lay, breathing shallow and fast, and an expression of pain on her face. As the Doctor went to sit by her, Jack put a hand on his shoulder. The Doctor turned, and saw the sadness in his eyes. He knew something was wrong, very wrong.

"Doctor, you might not want to let her see you. She has an amnesia pin on the side of her head. I don't know how long she has, but we need to get it out of her right now. It's killing her."

Molly spoke up. "What is an amnesia pin? Wha' is wrong with 'er?" she was surrounded by things that she never knew would exist for at least 150 years. She was worried, staying quiet all this time, until she saw Emmy. The girl seemed so small and sickly, like any minute now she might die, or worse. Silently, she said a prayer for her, hoping it would work.

The Doctor noticed Molly staring at Emmy. Luckily, her head was turned away from Molly. "Sorry, there is a pin that secretes a chemical that causes her to forget everything, from her past to her own name. What's even worse is that if she tries to remember, the pin sends a shockwave through her system, causing her extreme pain. Too much of the chemical, she dies. On the other hand, if we try to yank it out of her head, she dies. So I need some way of helping her without killing her." _Typical Doctor_, he thought to himself. _Let's just talk it up while Emmy is dying. Why can't I keep my big, brilliant mouth shut?_ Turning toward Jack, he began to formulate a plan to save her.

"Right, I need you to distract her, get her to focus on you, and only you. Molly will make sure that everyone stays out of my way, and I will have to pull the pin out of her. Don't try to argue, we have no choice. We need to start, now, Peter's coming. And we have…no time." As if to answer his statement, there was a deep howling outside the Whitford manor. Molly, hearing this, ushered Lord and Lady Whitford out of the kitchen, and Jack went over to Emmy's side.

Gently waking her up, Jack stared deep into her eyes. Her eyes seemed to bore into his, and she instantly knew something was up. So did the pin. He could almost see the small, hilt-shaped end quiver as it released the unseen chemical into her memory center, and she began to squirm away from his grasp.

"No, don't do that. Doctor, do it now, something's wrong." The pin was glowing, almost like it was put in the fire to long. The silver color became a tinged red, then orange, then slowly turning to the white. Emmy was screaming. Grasping the end with his fingers, the Doctor pulled, and pulled.

Slowly the pin began to tug on the skin on her head, reluctant to let go of its victim. She screamed louder, and tossed her head, side to side, trying to shake off the pain. With a sickening slice, the pin released its death-grip on Emmy's brain. A halo of light and energy exploded around it, and threw the Doctor and Jack backwards. Her back arched with the energy, and her scream was cut off; she sank back onto the table, with a sigh.

The Doctor sprang up, and checked on the unconscious girl. She wasn't moving. Franticly, he began to check for any kind of vital sign, a pulse, or breath. There was none. He was about to do some kind of CPR when she gasped awake, and tried to move. The Doctor found himself crying, thanking any known deity that he had discovered on his travels.

* * *

Oh. My. God. I'm alive. This, this is impossible. What happened to me? Where am I? Wait, Peter. Turning to the Doctor, I tried to get him to stop mumbling under his breath, to tell him that we need to leave, when I heard it. The howling. My heart began to pound under my chest, and I remember being attacked, over a week ago. Was it only a week? And, what else do I remember? Something about…oh no. My home, no my _real_ home, the death, the fire, and destruction around me. My parents shoving me into this small, silver pod, and telling me to get far, far away, and the feeling of my cells growing younger, and turning into a child again. Falling, and falling to Earth, being picked up by my new mother, telling me it was going to be okay. Was it?

"Doctor!" I yelled. I'm trying to get up but my legs won't respond. The Doctor says something:

" Emmy! I knew you wouldn't die on me. Come one, we need to leave now. Molly! Good, now I need you to stay here with Lord what's-his-name, and Jack, help her." The man called Jack picked me up, cradling me in his arms. He's kind of cute and I like him. He smiles at me, and I seem to melt a little inside.

"Hi, I'm captain Jack Harkness. Now sorry about this, but we need to go." Shouldering me, he starts to run. We run outside, and suddenly my legs seem to work again. I tell him to let me down, and we continue running. Why do we always have to run? The howling is getting closer.

"Doctor!" I yell, just as three of those hideous creatures I remember stumble into view. I scream as one of them launches itself onto captain Jack and he goes down. I feel a tingling in my hand and I open it to find the thing that used to be in my head. The Doctor turns, and pulls out that sonic do-hickey, screwing around with some unseen button on the surface.

The small pin (now, how did it get there again?) elongates, and grows larger, turning into a magnificent sword with a silver handle, inlaid with jewels that seemed to go on forever and were of some color I couldn't identify. Voices swirled around me, and I instantly knew what to do. Wielding he sword over my head, I slowly walk past to Jack Harkness' dead body, and the thing recoiled at my image. Was I glowing? Bringing down the sword, I slice the head clean off, the body disappearing in a cloud of dust, and the lifeless head rolling off in the grass before disappearing itself. Peter stepped out of the shadows. I yelled at him "I am _not_ afraid of you anymore!" and willed him to step closer, so I could run him through. He just chuckled at me, and walked away. How I wanted him to die in the endless torment that he subjected to my people. Hmm, _my_ people. This sounded right, and now, I know I must succeed, or die trying.

A gasp woke me from the red haze that surrounded my vision. Jack Harkness was alive. This can't be.

"That's impossible. You should be dead, I—I saw you _attacked_…"

"Sometimes, what you see isn't always what happens. Do you mind your foot is on my hand." He smiled with me, and I quickly pulled up my foot. Rubbing his hand, he picked himself up off the ground, just as the Doctor ran up to meet us.

"Well, looks like you found what you were looking for." He said, indicating to the weapon in my hand. Focusing down on the large sword, I felt the rush of energy leave my body. I slumped down onto the grass, and I saw how the Doctor bends down to look me in the eye. It seemed an eternity looking into the deep eyes, but I realize that he just wants to make sure I'm okay.

"Don't want to break up the reunion, but can we go, I would really love to get back to Torchwood. I bet they miss me." Jack chimed in.

A few minutes later, and we arrived back to the TARDIS. Stepping inside, I somehow felt at home. This seemed more comfortable to me than staying at my home back on Earth. Already I was comfortable with the metal interior and the console that beeped and hummed with its own life. Off to the side, the Doctor and Jack were engaged in lively conversation, all about an item called UNIT and a place called Torchwood. It was all Greek to me, though the TARDIS should be the one translating what they were saying.

The sword still lay heavy in my palm, the hilt still cold, like it had been lying in the snow. It was hard to understand that this thing had been stabbed into my head just a half-hour ago. Shivering, I laid down the weapon by the stone.

Clearing my throat, I asked, "Doctor, can we go, I think I've spent enough time in Victorian England to last me about three lifetimes."

"Well, you might live longer than that, but, alright. We just need to drop Jack off over here and we can be on our way." Nodding and grinning, the Doctor when on his way, pulling levers, twisting wheels, and pressing buttons as always. I loved the familiar rhythm of the TARDIS as it jerked into movement, and soon we were on our way. Back to the present for a short while, no fun at all, I wanted to go somewhere new, someplace exciting, someplace far away from Peter.

"Jack how is it that you didn't die when you were attacked? That is impossible." He turned toward me, his eyes filled with a sadness he was trying to hide.

"It's a long story. Let's just say that an old friend saved me a long time ago, and now I can't die. It has its perks for awhile, but I really wish I could just die. But enough about me. how is it that that little pin turned into that big sword?"

"To tell the truth, I don't really know. I think it just knew that it was the sword, and not something that wanted to hurt me. It trembled a bit when it changed. I think I'm meant to have, somehow. Doctor, I think this is the sword I've been looking for!" this seemed about right. But really, how am I supposed to use this to defeat Peter? I'm so confused.

The Doctor seemed to not be really interested in my conversation. Instead he was focused on the stone, which seemed to be glowing. He was smiling.

"Sorry, what? Let's get Jack home and then we can continue on your way. Speak of the devil, we're here." The Doctor opened the door, and motioned Captain Jack Harkness through the door.

"Later, kid. Call me, you know, when you are done with this whole—" Jack began. The Doctor interrupted him with a "Jack!" and basically pushed him through the door. I chuckled. I guess that isn't the first time Jack tried to get a girl.

Closing the door, the Doctor breathed a sigh of relief. "He certainly ceases to amaze me. Now, tell, me, when do you want to go next?" I turned to the stone, and peered into the endless depths. I saw a futuristic city, similar to New York. On top of one of the buildings was a gargoyle, very odd for this city. Inside the mouth was a roll of what appeared to be paper, very yellow and very thick. Then the vision swam away and the stone turned back to its normal crystalline self. The last image was a sign, bearing the name.

"Doctor, where's 'New New York'?"


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: hey you guuuys!! I'm going to be briefly back, and now I'm stuck again *pouts*. Anyone (X-Men fans especially) who is interested, start reading my other story, Shifters. Reviewers say it is good, so I hear. PS: Everyone knows I own none of the Doctor Who characters, excepting my own characters Emilia and Peter. R&R, I feeds/stimulates my writing complex. True story.**

**Trial of the Beast**

"Oh, love that place. It has it's own charm, for sure. Hmm, I remember the time when Martha Jones and I where stuck on the lower levels, and that interesting deal with the Macra in the fast lane on the lower levels…" the Doctor continued, off in his own memories. I sighed, waiting for him to breathe so I can get a word in. Tapping my foot, he continued on an extremely detailed account of the "Macra" and how they used to be an empire, or something like that. Luckily, he started to walk around the TARDIS, working in the familiar rhythm, pushing buttons, all the while yakking on about someone named Brannigan and his cute little family.

"Doctor!" I yelled, startling him out of his tangent. A large, red button was flashing, and a soft alarm went off. As the TARDIS jerked off to the side, I was thrown against a railing, bruising my ribs, and I huffed, the air escaping out of my lungs. Grasping the railing for fear of another smack against the time machine. I turned to the Doctor, and saw that his face was scrunched up, concentrating on a small screen. He took out his glasses and put them on, edging closer to the screen to get a better look.

"Well, this is not right, there should be no interference between the vortex and New New York, never had any problems before." He rubbed a hand over the back of his head, ruffling up the messy brown hair attached to the top of his head. The TARDIS jerked again, and the Doctor hit a lever downwards, and I felt we had landed, thank god.

"Ah, there we are. Let me just…there, perfect. Shall we?" he smacked his hand against the side of the screen, as if that could really help. He walked around to the door, and waited for me. But I felt that something wasn't right. I had this tingling sensation in the back of my head, like things weren't, as they seem. I shuddered, and banished the thought. I ran around and we both stepped through the door.

* * *

As they entered the outside, he knew something was wrong. The Doctor expected the normal hustle and bustle, with the exhaust of cars hanging in the air. Here, it was dark, pitch black, in fact. The soft, methodical dripping suggested they were in a cave, and a foul smelling on at that. The Doctor thought there must be some kind of sulfur spring, judging from the smell. There was something else here, too. He could sense it. Feeling over to a wall, he sniffed the rock. And then licked it.

Emmy was terrified. Ever since she could remember (even _after_ the return of her memories on Faeralia) she had been afraid of the dark. She remembered waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat when she was a child, screaming from some unknown fear. These nightmares she had must have been her unconscious mind reminding her of her homeland. Emmy shuddered, and the Doctor plunged his hands into his pockets. In a bit, he pulled out a rusted old flashlight and flicked it on.

"Ah, that's better. Now, I think we must be in New New York, the cave tastes like the right century. But I think we are beneath it, which is interesting, I've never been dozens of kilometers under the city, and I can understand why. It's filthy down here, if you ask me. But, while we are here, shall we have a look around? You know me, love to take in the scenery, uh rock, in this case." Emmy just looked at him, bewildered. Sure, the light had switched back on her senses, but she still had the lingering feeling something was wrong.

Without waiting for a reply, the Doctor set off in a random direction, pausing every once in a while to scan the rock with the sonic screwdriver.

"You know, I never asked you about that thing you keep messing with. What is it, some supped up wand, or something?" Emmy asked, hoping to quiet down the feeling of dread

"I'm sorry, supped up what? That, my dear, is an insult. This is my trusty sonic screwdriver, and it fixes _everything_. Why, it even helped save your life a couple of times. You should be thankful for this. Psh supped up wand my regeneration." The Doctor mumbled the last bit, offended.

Emmy just cracked a smile. "I'm sorry, it's called a sonic _screwdriver_?" she began to get a bit annoyed with the tone the Doctor had given her. "Who honestly looks at a screwdriver and says, 'hmm, this could be a bit more _sonic'?_" Emmy chuckled, and the Doctor mumbled something unintelligible to the screwdriver, as if the technology had become offended. With her little wisecrack, she had felt a bit more lighthearted. She began to match his pace, hoping for something interesting in the passageway. The cave had opened up to a huge cavern, studded with some material that glittered in the flashlight's beam. The rock had a thin coating of what appeared to be water, and this made the material shine even more. Emmy thought this was beautiful, as if there were nothing else in the world that would matter more to her. She kept on walking, looking up at the monstrous cavern, the material glittering, and the water slowing working it's way down the side of the rock. She was so intent on the ceiling that she didn't notice the fork in the cavern, not noticing that the Doctor went down the right-hand side, while she went down the left. It wasn't until she made another wrong turn that she realized she was separated from the Time Lord.

"Doctor? Okay, this isn't funny, turn on the light, now. Doctor?" Emmy started to shake, walking along the passage quickly, hoping for a way out. "Doctor? Doctor where are you? Please, stop this, and come out. Now!" Emmy heard a deep growling coming from further down the passage. It sounded as if the cave itself had begun to breathe, as if it was alive. There was a stench that arose from the passage, a cross between hundred's of years of rotten garbage that had been soaking in sulfur. Emmy turned around and around, as if the light would suddenly appear, as if the light itself was hiding. She backed away from the sound again, and found herself hitting a wall. Only the wall wasn't like the others, it was warm, soft, and alive. Her necklace began to glow sensing her fear, and she saw the wall was a mass of rotten green flesh, covered in warts that oozed a clear slime that covered the thing's body.

Emmy opened her mouth to scream when a long hand clamped itself over her mouth. The other grasped the orb, silencing the light that poured from it, stronger than before. The Doctor whispered in her ear, "Don't make any sound, you'll wake it up. Back up, slowly, and get rid of the light, will you? I don't think the Silkax is a heavy sleeper. " Emmy willed herself to calm down, to slow down her pulsing heart rate that triggered the orb to glow. Slowly but surely, the light went out, and the creature, the Silkax, disappeared into the dark. The Doctor slowly removed his hand from her face, and Emmy collapsed onto the floor, hyperventilating in the dark. The Doctor kneeled next to her in the dark, and took her hand, pulling her close.

"It's all right. Hush now, we are going to leave, I'm so sorry I brought you here, we were never meant to see this. The Silkax was never supposed to be here, but here it is.

"There's something else, too." The Doctor stared past Emmy into the dark, in the general direction of the giant blob of green flesh.

"What? What could possibly be going on now?" Emmy whispered.

"Its awake."

* * *

"Its awake" the Doctor said. Those two words were the most terrifying thing I heard. I slowly turned and saw two huge glittering eyes, staring at the Doctor and me. I screamed, and the Doctor pulled me up, and we started running. I tried not to look back, and for good reason, the Silkax howled in anger, and suddenly I heard a cracking sound as the rock around me began to be ripped from the side, falling around us. Desperately, I tried to get away, but the rock seemed to be pulling me back, like something had wrapped around my leg and wouldn't let me go. That's when I felt the tentacle biting into my flesh through my jeans.

"Doctor!" I yelled, and I saw, through the glow of my necklace, he was no longer with me. Instead, he was upside down, being held by the ankle as the Silkax lifted him up into the air, bringing toward the gaping maw that had appeared out of nowhere. He was fiddling with the sonic screwdriver, and desperately pushing buttons, making it make a high-pitched sound, to no avail. It would swallow him whole.

"NO!" I blue flame erupted over my body, and the tentacle withdrew, the Silkax hissing wildly at my newfound light. I turned toward it; anger coursing through my body, and the flame grew brighter, hotter. It let the Doctor go, who went tumbling down to the ground, and the Silkax began to back away from me.

I felt a new strength that seemed to propel me forward, despite my wanting to get away. But this wanting was pushed to the back of my mind was banished once I saw what the Silkax had done. I seemed to be overloaded with visions that showed bloody battlefields, the Silkax numbered by the thousands as they slaughtered towns, cities, countries, laying waste wherever they went. I got angrier at what they had done. I lifted my hands and blasted the monster with a massive blue fireball that shook the cavern, and filled it with a hauntingly blue light.

I turned toward the Doctor, who stared in shock. Not at the monster, but at me. What am I _doing_? I closed my hands, and the flame went out as quickly as it arrived. The smell of singed flesh quickly filled the cavern, and the Doctor turned on the flashlight. He seemed to stare at me in awe, and then I saw something unusual, even for him. He bowed his head, in respect. I felt sick, and barely reached the edge of the path in time.

I felt a hand along my back, as the Doctor kneeled beside me, allowing me to finish. When I turned to look at him, he held out something to me. It was the paper I had seen in the stone.

"Come on, let's get back to the TARDIS." He spoke, but there was some reservation to the way he said it, like he didn't want me to, I don't know, _attack_ him or something. I stood up to go, and felt a familiar sensation tickling the back of my head.

"Doctor!" I yelled, but it was too late. A dart sped out of the light, and buried itself in his neck. It seemed to happen in slow motion. He pulled the tiny dart out, and fell down, crippled with the toxin that filled the capsule. A wind blew through, where there should be no wind, and carried the sound of laughter. I knelt down, and gripped the Doctor under the arms. He groaned in pain, and I saw that his face was deathly white.

"Come on, you have to get up, he's HERE." I started to drag him towards the TARDIS, but there was some…one blocking my way. It was Peter.

"Emilia let him die. His song is going, quickly, and you must give up. I promise to let you live and I may even allow you to help me." Peter said, with a smirk. I just glared at him, and helped the Doctor to his feet, making him lean heavily on me.

"Don't say I haven't warned you." And in a gust of wind, he was gone. I just shouldered the Doctor more, and started the long walk back to the time machine.

I reached the TARDIS, just as I could see the morning light coming through the mouth of the cave. If only we had seen it before, he might be back to his normal, brilliant self. The strength I had before had left me long back in the cave. I opened the door, and stumbled inside. The Doctor and I fell bodily to the ground, and I suddenly started to cry.

"Doctor, please, get up. You have to get up, now. C'mon, please, please…" I sobbed. If only the Doctor could just jump up and scream "Just kidding!" or "allons-y" instead of lying there, breathing heavily. My tears just streamed to the floor.

_What has happened?_ A voice sounded in my head

_Wha—?_

_Let me help you_. It was the…TARDIS?

_I can tell you where to go; now stop crying and get up_.

She began to tell me what to do, what buttons to push, which levers to switch. I was intent on getting him where I needed to go, or rather, where the TARDIS wanted my to go. With the familiar rhythm installed, I sat on the floor, by the Doctor. I was shaking from my ordeal, and I suddenly wanted to take Peter's advice: give up. I leaned my head on my chest in submission.

* * *

The TARDIS made its normal landing, albeit a bit smoother, with the TARDIS controlling the landing gears, allowing Emmy to rest. A woman, Martha Jones was on her way to work when she heard the familiar _vworp_ of the TARDIS landing nearby. She smiled, and ran in the direction of the sound. She saw the TARDIS materialize in front of her, and waited for the Doctor to open the door.

He didn't. Martha's smile quickly faded as the door opened by itself, and the forms of the unconscious Doctor lay on the floor, hovered over by a girl, red hair covering her face, which was covered in grit and slime, head slowly rising to see what the light was about.

She took one look at Martha and croaked,

"Help us, please." And she fainted.


End file.
